If you want to do business in Mexico, there’s no better middleman than Gov. John Hickenlooper. As CEO of a state that measures its trade south of the border in the billions, he has ample clout to arrange the personal introductions known to facilitate deal-making among such close neighbors.

Little doubt, the 70-plus enterprising Coloradans joining his Biennial of the Americas Summit in Mexico City this week see the value. Mexico is already Colorado’s second-biggest international customer and, whether your aim is to export more Colorado potatoes or import more tuition-paying college students, the opportunities are growing.

U.S. interests in Mexico are surprisingly broad these days, and that is reflected in the summit’s roster of delegates, most paying $2,500 each — air and hotel not included — for what is essentially a 40-hour meeting.

Oil and gas folks, such as Anadarko Petroleum’s Brad Holly, are on the manifest, as are do-it-all management consultants, like Lee McIntire, executive chairman of CH2M Hill’s board. The state’s top law firms and investment companies are sending reps.

But there are also arts leaders, such as Christoph Heinrich, who runs the Denver Art Museum; higher education types, like Colorado State University president Tony Frank; and tourism entrepreneurs, like Bob Stinchcomb of Vail Resorts. Lots of people want to build relationships with Mexico’s growing numbers of economic and cultural players.

And in Mexico, relationships are key, said Gil Cisneros, president of the Denver-based Chamber of the Americas, which promotes north-south business connections. Deals in Guadalajara and Juárez, he explains, don’t get completed over a quick meet-and-greet, and that can be hard for Americans to understand.

“In Mexico, they want to know who you are. They want to know your family. They want to know what you are about,” said Cisneros, who is attending the summit. Trade missions are essential, he believes.

For Colorado businesses, there is a lot at stake, and in this particular moment. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office in December 2012, is pushing a $590 billion infrastructure overhaul, with a third of the investment coming from nongovernment interests at home and abroad.

At the same time, the government is transitioning toward a landmark privatization of its nationalized energy company Pemex.

The moves hold financial promise for Colorado companies that specialize in oil production, transportation, education and the rapidly growing field of telecommunications. Both satellite and cable interests will be represented with Dish Network’s Stanton Dodge and Liberty Global’s Mike Fries in the Colorado delegation.

“As Mexico looks for more public-private partnerships, businesses here see an opportunity to do some of that work,” said Ken Lund, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. “Maybe not tomorrow or next week, but perhaps sooner than some might think.”

The fact that CH2M Hill is currently managing the $5 billion overhaul of the Panama Canal is a reminder of just how valuable the region can be.

Still, it’s a get-to-know-you process, and that’s why the trade mission is flying under the banner of the Biennial of the Americas, Denver’s two-week celebration of art, culture and ideas that takes place every other summer. The biennial is run by a nonprofit that is underwritten by local corporations, like Liberty Global, and is widely thought of as a pet project of Hickenlooper’s.

Last summer’s biennial, the second, featured huge sculptural installations across the city, public festivals, panel discussions with top national executives and a series of “clinicas,” where people who work in education, the environment, technology and social services discussed real-world problems.

The Mexico summit is borrowing that part of the biennial’s format as a way of getting U.S. delegates and their Mexican counterparts talking this week. Clinica topics include “Preparing Tomorrow’s Workforce Today” and “Balancing Energy Production and Environmental Protection.”

Using what is essentially a cultural festival as an icebreaker for discussions that could lead to everything from new jobs in Tijuana to exhibitions of Mexican painters in Denver art galleries falls in line with the greater goals of the biennial, which executive director Erin Trapp describes as more of “a philosophy” than a two-week party.

Still a relatively new event to Denver, the biennial is trying to gain wider recognition and brand itself as a hub of innovative thinking across the hemisphere. Facilitating a meeting in its off year, where investors, educators, presidents, governors and others can explore ways to do business only strengthens its mission.

“For me, the biennial is a space for them to consider those things outside of the daily routine,” Trapp said.

A White House advisory council on infrastructure Thursday became the latest casualty of the pique of business leaders over President Donald Trump’s response to the hate-fueled violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.